Location: in the courtyard of the Lyttelton Tourist Information Centre in Church Street.

Description: an ornamental well head.

In the early 19th century, Apphia, Lady Lyttelton, provided a Sunday school for up to 90 children on a piece of glebe land in the Priory churchyard. In 1814 she had applied to Lord Foley, Lord of the Manor for a gift of land near the Crown Inn Stables. Instead he offered a piece of land at the lower end of the churchyard. In 1817 Lady Lyttelton gave the completed schoolhouse to the Parish of Malvern in trust. Albeit intended as a Sunday school, as time progressed it was used as a weekday school. By 1845 only girls were attending the school but later, in 1874 it became the Lyttelton Grammar School for boys. In 1886 work commenced on extending the building and the addition of the clock tower. The original Sunday school is now incorporated in the Lyttelton Well project.[1]

At the school children received religious instruction and learned good manners. Unsurprisingly then, the Lyttelton Well is a church-based community project comprising a meeting place, coffee bar, book shop, offices, meeting house and consulting rooms. The complex was opened on 24 April 1993 when a plaque was unveiled by Lord Cobham, a member of the Lyttelton family. More recently it has become the Tourist Information Centre extending its ethos to visitors from elsewhere.

 

Around the fountain is inscribed 'Jesus said whoever is thirsty let them come to me and drink'. The fountain also symbolises the well as a gathering point. Housewives spent many hours each week drawing water from the communal well for the household, so the well was a place of friendship, community and socialising. The Lyttelton Well perpetuates this age-old tradition albeit a symbolic rather than actual well.

Illustrations:
1. The Lyttelton Well. It is a symbol of an age-old tradition of meeting and socialising at the well rather than an actual well.

2. Lyttelton Grammar School 1915.

References:

[1] Bannister C (2011) Apphia, Lady Lyttelton from the Cotswolds to Malvern by way of India 1743-1840, Aspect Design, p.50-53.
 

The map alongside is a small section of our more comprehensive map of the area. For the complete map together with a description and history of this site see "Celebrated Springs of the Malvern Hills" (2012).

 

Click on Website below or the top banner to go to the DISCOVERY TRAIL INDEX of springs and wells.

Celebrated Springs of 
THE MALVERN HILLS  

A definitive work that is the culmination of 20 years researching the springs and wells of the Malvern Hills, published by Phillimore. This is the ideal explorers guide enabling the reader to discover the location and often the astounding and long forgotten history of over 130 celebrated springs and wells sites around the Malvern Hills. The book is hard back with dust cover, large quarto size with lavish illustrations and extended text. Celebrated Springs contains about 200 illustrations and well researched text over a similar number of pages, together with seven area maps to guide the explorer to the locations around the Malvern Hills. It also includes details on the long history of bottling water in the Malvern Hills.

Written by Bruce Osborne and Cora Weaver, this book is available on-line for £15.00 (delivered UK) - click Malvern Bookshop on the green panel top left. Alternatively send a cheque payable to Cora Weaver with your name and address to 4 Hall Green, Malvern, Worcs. WR14 3QX.